Defeating the Enemies of Success (Part 2)

Whenever you face a crisis.

There is two ways of responding to the crisis. You can respond to crisis within encouragement or you can respond to it with discouragement. The root word is in the middle of both words, encouragement, and discouragement is what courage and so we either face crises with courage, or lack thereof on this whole issue of discouragement has to do with courage.

But what makes the difference between a person who faces challenges with courage and one does not. What makes a difference. I want to tell you listen carefully what makes the difference is having the eternal perspective, what makes a difference is your perspective of who God is what makes the difference is the God factor in your life.

Only the person who sees everything through the biblical prism will be able to face whatever crisis will face with courage and courage will overcome discouragement. Every time, and before I get to the message that I want to share with you for things that I have lunch with you about this whole issue of discouragement to defeat discouragement and not stay in it. The first thing you need to do is be realistic, be realistic, be realistic about yourself, your abilities and be realistic about others. You see how false expectations.

Perfectionism not taking personal responsibility and always blaming somebody else problem. All of these are going to cause us discouragement. Every time, but being realistic about yourself and about others is going to help you beat discouragement. The second thing I want to share with you from own personal life is this. Remember, your identity, not your title, not your job not your profession, not who you are not your family's name who you are in Christ and remember this. This is how I think about it. Of all the billions of people in the world. God called you.

God chose you. God redeemed you. God saved you hacking you study and discouragement. When you begin to think about your identity in Christ and the fact that the going to be spending eternity with him. That would lick discouragement every time something I wanted to use this majoring on the major and monitoring on the minors listed majoring on the majors will defeat discouragement every time you want to fight every battle and if you want to dial every hill. If you want to champion every cause I can tell you, you will be discouraged thank you for me. We say what can I do, because that's just the way I do things well here we go. You start praying Lord help me to focus on what's important. Lord help me to focus on what is near and dear to you, Lord, help me to focus on the strength among the gifts that you've given me.

Help me to focus in the area of my anointing are not to be distracted by my weaknesses. He will give you the courage every time forcefully and with faithfulness to the Lord versus outward performance would get you over discouragement.

Every time, and I know it's easier said than done. But listen to me many times we as Christians put on our Christian masking really try to let everybody think that everything is wonderful. But if you're outward performance is more important to you than anyone faithfulness when nobody's around then you will be discouraged.

Every time but learning to practice inward faithfulness to the Lord is going to give you victory over discouragement knock and get to my text in the Scripture value Bible with you. I want you to turn the first king.

Chapter 19 Elijah's life provides us with a patent of how discouragement can sneak up on even the most courageous among us. Usually it begins when we are deeply wounded by someone or when someone that we counted on.

Silas failed you and let you down or in. Many times it happens when we have high expectations.

Unrealistic expectation or sometimes happens when we fail ourselves. Many of you understand Ron talking about when our dreams are shattered when our plans collapse and always got left is a crushing disappointment at that point in your life if you are not trained to go to the throne room of God and have it out with God, yet your bride have it out with God. If you are not trained to do that on a daily basis on a regular basis you going to become discouraged and despondent. The parents let me just share with you something very important that you can teach your children at a very early age how to grow to the Lord when they are discouraged. Teach them how to pour out their hearts to the Lord in times of discouragement to see most Christians who are not trained to go to the throne room of God and poured their hearts out in the times of discouragement to the heavenly father. They going to do the following. Okay the first thing they going to do for not trying to go to the Lord is there going to look inward. Why do they go inward because that's where they feel safe as they feel safe. They don't want to trust others because older might hurt them again. So the only safe places inward so they go inward and withdraw the retreat into their own little world that they make for themselves and beloved, if you stay there that dangerous and if you don't know how to get out of that and look up not down. If you stay there you gonna find the discouragement would only get worse. Something else is going to help you gonna begin to think you're the only one in the whole world is suffering. Nobody understands how I feel. No one appreciates my pain as if you're the only one who ever suffered, and if you stay there and go to the third step and that is you become a judge and a jury and you condemn yourself and your self-inflicted pain. Why, to atone for whatever you think you have done at that point, you have an unwelcome visitor. Make no mistake about it, he will visit you because you sitting there on the sideline watching you as soon as you get into the self-pity mode while me, he comes in very sympathetically yeah nobody really understands you, you brought heaven to you blow the stuff I want you to remember that the Bible does not call him the accuser of the brethren for nothing here will watch the moment you allow yourself pity to be magnified is going to come in with force.

Now let's look at the passage and see how Elijah got into every one of those downward steps. Chapter 19 he went from great courage to discouragement. This man was called of God, and he become so close to the Lord that even James the brother of the Lord Jesus Christ use him as an example, he said Elijah was a man like him draws me. It is not clear if you'd like all of us, but when he prayed God answered can get a better recommendation than that, this man prayed for rain and rain came, he prayed for the rain to stop and it stopped Elijah so medicals that probably all of us will never see into lifetime. He brought a supply of food that would fill a barn out of a drop of oil and a teaspoonful of wheat flour, wheat. He raised a boy from the dead, and that boy was dead dead dead. Elijah raised him up, but that's not all bestowed on Mount caramel and he challenged the prophets of Bale who came from Lebanon came from the from silently came from the north and that were menacing. The people of Israel. They tempted them to worship a foreign God and the people of God were bowing to bail the God of power and might, was replaced by a little statue bail there, praying to bail and so Elijah said to them now make your challenge will get the sacrifice here on the mountain and you call upon your God bail and I'll call upon the Lord, and the God who sends fire from heaven is the true God, they fell for it.

That's the arrogance and the pride of the pagans that fell for so the prophets of Bale came in first thing in the morning put the sacrifice in there that got deployed to bail bail here us, and they began to cry louder and louder and Elijah was making fun of them said maybe he's asleep.

Chaplain allow them that I was screaming hollering that were cutting themselves with swords and knives begging bail bail. No heroes of Bale here is bail. Nothing happened. No fire, no fire. Meanwhile, as well as the time had a worse 14 I'm in his middle name is Wu's wimp. Ahab, he married a pagan woman from Lebanon. I bailed worshiping woman, and he made a queen Jezebel then become synonymous with evil children wearing the prophets of Bale was just exhausted at the end of the day were worn now. The yelling and screaming and nothing happened. Elijah gets up and he said boys now let me show you what majolica gear. The shaft the boys let me show you my God, let me show you my God. We don't have people who are experiencing the power of God. Today is because we don't have too many lodges now let me show you what the true God can do that.

Beloved, listen to me there is no reason on God's earth, for we the believers in the Lord Jesus Christ to be discouraged in the face of this relentless opposition to the Christian faith. We are seeing this country and I know I can get discouraged, but thank God that are close our walk with the Lord. My times of discouragement gets shorter and shorter and shorter. The other day I saw something in the news and I said all come, Lord Jesus, I don't know what I can take anymore influences it's not your job.

You just can't tell them to repent.

There's no reason on God's earth for us to be discouraged by the evil that seems to be succeeding in our society, every single day. Why, because God hasn't just begun to show Lafayette. He has not shown up yet. He has not begun to show off his power and his strength in his mind, not yet. We live in a time when the prophets of Bale everywhere from the schoolhouse to the White House. They are dancing and crying to their God. They are making lots of noise they make in parades and proud of their sin. They are getting all of the media's full attention.

They are yelling and hollering and screaming and parading but don't be discouraged because our God hasn't shown up yet that's what we need to call upon the Lord to show up.

Wait till Yahweh shows up. Wait till Yahweh began to manifest his power away. Do you see Jesus show up and you'll see the power of our God back to larger at the end of the day. It was almost dark skin dock night and he said you finished the exhausted.

Our God is not hearing this, he should now let me show you make the ward under the sacrifice really wet.

Not that's not good enough so the world is sunk in the water and imagine if you skin that you sound talking about your write up about it got into the Mediterranean getting the water and the comeback. Is it not go back and get some more willing to soak the wood. I don't want anybody to accuse me of trickery. I don't think that I just lit a match and the wood took off another piece that I want to show you because my confidence is in my God, I know that my God answers prayer. I know that God is a God of power and might and he looked up to heaven and he said that use of translation. Lord do your thing. Do your thing. Lord, you will find it in the Bible, but you'll understand. And fire came from heaven licked everything inside everything after that Elijah took care of 850 of these prophets of bail together but Satan was watching see bail is really the front store for Satan and Satan was watching how helpless his little properties when it comes to the part of you and Satan was furious. He was mad.

So what does he do he goes to his emissary. Jezebel American meds and I have this was Nina standing there seeing the fire come from heaven to one of my going to tell Jezebel about this hunger to go home and tell her that her God is a false God, that Bale has failed, but Yahweh succeeded what I'm going to tell Jezebel that he was shivering in his boots and he goes down and he tells Jezebel and Jezebel gets mad she gets furious and she determined this going to kill Elijah threaten to kill them anyway. What happens at this point. Listen to me, beloved, none of us can be discouraged at this point because when you think about it this man called the brain from heaven, and it came to stop and stop this man raise the dead. This man provided tens of thousands of pounds of food from a drop of oil in a spoonful of wheat flour.

This man who called fire from heaven, and fire came and licked everything inside that same man who took care of 850 prophets of Bale as soon as he hears the threat of Jezebel. He runs he runs. Listen to verse three first King 19 three Elijah was afraid Elijah was afraid you discouraged today. Are you discouraged got that report from the doctor and you discouraged. You got that news that you discouraged. You got that information you've chides the failed so many times in your discouraged. I want you to take heart, because Bible and Christian's all-stars, all of them face discouragements to it is what they do with the discouragement that I want you to learn from. So what happened, why did Elijah run at this time when he was filled with courage before many times. Why isn't this time not want you to go home. Read the Scripture carefully. I want to tell you to give you the answer but I wanted to go and read it for yourself because the answers that in the Scripture and is there for Elijah, but is there for everyone of us to learn from and every step of his life. Elijah did two things he listen to the Lord and he worked obeyed the Lord will give you three examples very quickly texts in chapter 17. The first King verse two, the word of the Lord came to Elijah, verse eight sin chapter 17 the word of the Lord came to Elijah chapter 18 verse one the word of the Lord came to Elijah and every time the word of the Lord came to Elijah what it either yes or Hubert everything, but when Elijah ran from Jezebel. There's one thing you notice was missing in the Scripture. If you guessed it, there is no other word of the Lord came to Elijah and says, run for your life is not there. Elijah did not wait to hear from the Lord. So he ran as if he had been in danger before yeah but he wasn't God's protective program because of his listening and obedience and William God's protective program you're in the hollows of his hands.

Nobody can touch you in the palms of his head in your hidden in the palms of his hands. You need provision. Supernaturally he will do. Elijah got blindsided everywhere been blindsided.

I don't how many thousands of blindsided through the years. He got blindsided. If you want overcome discouragement and despondency. Do not make decisions until you hear from the Lord. Do not move until he tells you get into his word and you begin to see it without word until you hear the Lord so Elijah ran his rare, but in running. He makes a second mistake vital mistake.

Serious mistake.

The man I wanted to listen to me that's a mistake we make is meant. Women are better this in real and they really are is a second mistake.

He isolated himself in times of crisis.

He isolated himself in times of discouragement. He isolated himself. Beloved, listen. The Bible said. Elijah left the young man at Bathsheba and then he went by himself to the desert. He left his colleague at the membership now though some tradition that says that this young man that he was helping him was a young boy that he raised from the dead, that whether this tuneup is the Jewish tradition. Imagine if that young man was with a larger and larger did not isolate himself, he would have said to him, all Elijah, don't you remember how you raise me from the dead, don't you remember how you praying and God answered. Don't you remember what God did in the past. Don't you remember Mark, you are a member of the fire that came down from heaven like but was not very encouraging.

Another thing happens in times of discouragement when your discouraged and say in the discouragement. You can lose perspective, you lose perspective not only of your circumstances, you lose perspective of God. And Elijah did exactly that you lost perspective both of his circumstances and of his God, Michelle, you how the loss or perspective can be so illogical that some, but since right here. He ran away from Jezebel. Why, to save his life right so he now he isolates himself and gets into the desert since on the retreat puts his head between his knees and says what God kill me see what I mean by the loss of perspective and adjust him. He does make sense if he really wanted to die. Why would he let God do the job when it Jezebel could have done a much better job she would've killed them with passion, but when you're in time of discouragement and stay in the times of discouragement and don't get up and take courage in the Lord your God, you lose touch with reality you really do verse four chapter 19 verse four Elijah said I am not better than my ancestors.

What is that me his mind obviously raced back to all of his ancestors Jewish ancestors probably all the way to Moses and is all these people. What faithfulness do help them go how you become illogical and he was saying is faithfulness doesn't pay. And so he goes from self protection told you drawing to self to self-pity, and that the self punishment, but here is the best part about Elijah's story and his discouragement listen to me the way God dealt with Elijah in the thumb of his discouragement SMS part and I want you to miss it.

Don't miss it though. Miss if you missed the whole thing. The Bible said on the Lord God called Eli. John said you we will fascinating wimp. I have given you an important assignment that you blow it.

How quickly have you forgotten my power in the pants so the Scripture said no in the times of discouragement, God comes and meets us at our point of needs. Every one of my just wanted to all of even Elijah did not seek the Lord even though Elijah did not wait for word from the Lord. Even though Elijah refused human companionship. God meant all of these failures with his grace and with his mercy, she did not wait for word from the Lord. The Lord gave him a word. Anyway he refused human companionship got sent him an angel to minister to him. He was desperate need of food and refreshment.

God provided in the most supernatural way as I can tell you those ravens. They eat you for lunch not bring your lunch. God meant it larger at every point of his needs in the time of his discouragement in God is doing that to you and you and you he's doing it to you even though you may have a cloud in your heart you blinded by your own circumstances and you can see it. There are times in my life when God did this and I couldn't see it until later.

Rebecca said all Lord you are doing this and I can see it. God knows that the point of discouragement. We don't necessarily need a book to read or CD to listen to greatness. These things are have their place and importance. But the Lord knows that sometimes he needs rest and sleep.

Something else I don't want you to miss about God in the times of discouragement. He did not speak to him through the fire. He did not speak to him through the earthquake heated distinctives will exciting things of life, just spoke to him in a gentle whisper, gentle whisper, beloved, listen to me. Please don't miss the gentle whisper of God.

Listen carefully to the gentle whisper. Take time to hear the gentle whisper staying with the word of God so that you may speak to you through his word and the gentle whisper. Take time to hear his sweet voice.

Take time to hear his word. Martin Luther, the great reformer, one that he was so discouraging was discouraged many times before but this time he really wanted to quit.

He just wanted Colquitt's and he wanted to hear God, but he can hear God so he walked out of his house. He looks up to heaven, thinking that God might give him a word. But he looked up to the sky and he saw the star studded sky and you notice all the stores and have almost like for first time in his life living there all the time. He goes back to his study. He writes the following words I noticed all of the stars up there, they had no columns or pillars to hold them up. But that were held up by his mighty hand and he holds the stars holds me father. We cried to you because we live in difficult times. Many people here today in the discouraged father I pray that as we hear the gentle whisper. We don't just take it and say okay God answered my prayer and we run back into our old happy ways but father that we would rededicate ourselves to serving you to witnessing for you because that's the purpose of your encouragement office in the stillness of the moment. Maybe somebody hears is what I really have not experienced the Lord and personal way. Today you can say Lord Jesus, you're more wonderful than I can even comprehend, and I'm sorry I just knew about you. I don't know you personally today. I do, I want to know you personally. I surrender my life to you and maybe somebody here who constantly discouraged because they're not listening to you not listening to the Lord. I wanted to say Lord Jesus, help me. Not only that, I'll be encouraged, but I will be an encouragement office instead of constantly consuming that I will be a giver of encouraged father, we thank you that you know our thoughts before we think and you know you've heard the unspoken prayers in Jesus name, amen. Thanks for listening to this message from Dr. Michael use that recently featured on leading the way. If you'd like to know more about us, please visit LTW.org@LTW.Ward